Warren rallies to beat Cabrillo and claim CIF-SS title
Photo courtesy Rachel Palmer
DOWNEY – The Warren High School girls’ basketball team defeated Cabrillo, 47-42, in overtime in the C.I.F. Division 3AA championship game at Colony High School last Saturday afternoon.
With the win, the Lady Bears improved to 20-10 on the season.
The Lady Bears led 11-10 at the end of the first quarter but trailed 21-17 at halftime. Cabrillo outscored Warren 7-4 in the third quarter and led, 28-21, after three quarters of play.
The Lady Bears outscored Cabrillo, 18-11, in the fourth quarter to force overtime with the score tied at 39. Warren outscored Cabrillo 8-3 in overtime to claim the C.I.F. 3AA title.
The Lady Bears were led by Kaeani Berry’s 20 points and Frances Potts’ 12 points. Berry scored five consecutive points for Warren in overtime and in the process sealed the win for the Lady Bears.
For her efforts, Berry was selected as the player of the game against Cabrillo and also earned the Long Beach Press Telegram’s SoCal Prep Legends girls’ athlete of the week honor for this week.
Coach Rachel Palmer, her staff and players are all looking forward to competing in the C.I.F. Division 3 State Basketball Championships.
In the first round of the CIF Southern California Division III Regionals on Wednesday, Warren came up short, losing 74-73 in an overtime thriller against Legacy of South Gate.
Cyrena Chavers scored 27 points for the Bears, who were competing in their fourth consecutive overtime game. Kaeani Berry added 18 points and 21 rebounds.
“This is the first time in school history our team has ever won a CIF title and gone to a state tournament,” Coach Palmer told the Press-Telegram. “Everyone doubted us but I’m super-proud of these kids.”
DOWNEY GIRLS BASKETBALL: The Downey High School girls’ basketball team was defeated by Glendora, 47-35, at Azusa Pacific University in the C.I.F. Division 2A championship game last Saturday night.
With the win, Glendora improved to 31-0 on the season and with the loss, Downey fell to 25-6.
In the Downey/Glendora game the Lady Vikings trailed 14-6 at the end of the first quarter and 28-12 at halftime. The Lady Vikings outscored Glendora in the third quarter, 12 -10, and again in the fourth quarter, 11-9.
The first half deficit proved too much and the Lady Vikings were playing catch-up the entire second half. Surie Camacho led all Downey scorers with 17 points and was selected as Downey’s player of the game. Ilani Avila chipped in and scored seven points and was Downey’s second-leading scorer.
Downey traveled to Westview of San Diego on Wednesday to play the Lady Wolverines in the 2018 C.I.F. Division 2 State Girls Basketball Championship (score unavailable at press time). Downey is the number seven seed and Westview is the number three seed, respectively, on their side of the bracket.
Coach Harris, his staff and players are all looking forward to extending their postseason.
Westview is 20-8 overall and was 9-1 in Palomar League play. The Lady Wolverines are the 2018 Palomar League champions. Westview was defeated by Santa Fe Christian of Solana Beach 65-48 last Thursday night.
The winner of the Downey/Westview game will play the winner of the Lynwood/Cathedral Catholic winner on Saturday. Lynwood is the number two seed and Cathedral Catholic is the number 15 seed.
PIUS-MATTHIAS GIRLS BASKETBALL: The SPXSMA girls’ basketball team was defeated by Grace Brethren at SPXSMA last Saturday morning, 59-33, in the C.I.F. Division 5AA championship game.
With the win, the Lady Lancers improved to 24-3 overall. Grace Brethren was 14-0 in Frontier League play and is the 2018 Frontier League champion.
In the SPXSMA/Grace Brethren game, the Lady Lancers got out to an early lead and never looked back. Grace Brethren led 13-5 at the end of the first quarter and 29-10 at halftime. The Lady Lancers picked up in the third quarter where they left off in the second quarter.
Grace Brethren outscored the Lady Warriors 15-11 in the third quarter and led 44-21 at the end of three quarters of play. Grace Brethren outscored SPXSMA, 15-12, in the fourth quarter and came away with the 59-33 win and the C.I.F. Division 5AA title.
The Lady Warriors were led by Natalia Gutierrez’s 14 points and Esmeralda Campos’ 9 points in the losing effort. Although the Lady Warriors did not win the Division 5AA tournament, Coach Santisteven, his staff and players did qualify for the Division 5 state tournament and now turn their attention towards that
SPXSMA played Gardena on Wednesday night in the first round of the state tournament (score unavailable at press time). The Lady Warriors are the number five seed and Gardena (14-16, 5-7) is the number 12 seed. The winner of this game will play the winner of the Grace Brethren/Math and Science College Prepatory game on Saturday.
Grace Brethren is the number four seed and Math and Science College Prepatory is the number 13 seed on their side of the same bracket, respectively.
DOWNEY WRESTLING: The Downey High School wrestling team sent three wrestlers to the state meet at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield last weekend.
Returning state champion Jonathan Prata (106), Dilan Ajtun (113) and Roland Dominguez (120) all competed in their respective weight classes. Prata finished third with a record of 5-1, Ajtun finished eighth with a record of 3-3 and Dominguez did not place and finished with a record of 0-2.
Prata defeated Wyatt Bedrosian of Coalinga 6-2 in the first round, defeated Evan Ivaldi of Del Oro 6-2 in the second round and defeated Hunter Leake of Buchanan 9-0 in the third round.
Prata was defeated by eventual state champion Richard Figueroa of Selma in the fourth round, defeated Blake Frederickson of Windsor by pin at the :25 mark of the first period in the fifth round and defeated Justin Mouritsen of Clovis by pin at the :35 mark of the first period in the sixth and final round to claim third place.
Ajtun defeated Angel Nava of Delano by pin at the 5:15 mark of the third period in the first round, defeated Caydin Wickard of Golden Valley 10-8 in the second round and was defeated by Antonio Lorenzo of St. John Bosco in the third round. Ajtun defeated Mario Moreno of Madera 11-4 in the fourth round, was defeated by Tristan Lujan of Selma 9-1 in the fifth round and defaulted against Eric Sanchez of Silver Creek in the sixth and final round to claim eighth place.
Interestingly, Ajtun’s three losses came to Antonio Lorenzo who placed third, Tristan Lujan who placed fourth and Eric Sanchez who placed seventh.
Dominguez was defeated by Brandon Paulson of Clovis 11-2 in the first round and was defeated by Edison Alanis of Franklin in the second round. After his two losses, Roland Dominguez was eliminated from competition.
Overall, Downey tied for 25th place in the state meet with Bullard and Bishop Amat with 33 points each. Buchanan finished first with 219 points, Gilroy finished second with 180 points, Poway finished third with 171.5 points, Selma finished fourth with 168 points and Clovis finished in fifth place with 121.5 points, respectively.